Did Cleveland Browns QB Colt McCoy Get a High School Football Team in Trouble?
By all accounts, Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy is a great guy. It’s doubtful he would ever knowingly get a high school football team in trouble, but it seems he has possibly – and unknowingly – done just that.
McCoy visited Sacred Heart-Griffin in Springfield, Illinois on March 13, to speak about faith, while also throwing the ball around with some players. While that sounds like a great story, the Illinois High School Association received a complaint – allegedly from Rick Sanders, coordinator of athletics for Springfield Public School’s District 186 – regarding the game of catch between McCoy and the school’s football players. Sanders denies ever sending a complaint to the IHSA.
Regardless of who sent in the complaint, the organization is now asking for more information regarding McCoy’s interaction with these football players. Ken Leonard, athletic director and football coach at the school, hopes that the organization can see McCoy’s visit for what it was.
"“I take the blame if there’s any punishment, but we didn’t do it with the intent to gain any advantage,” Leonard [said]. “We did it for a life experience. He talked to them about life and prayed with them. We need more male role models like Colt McCoy or Tim Tebow, that’s what’s important. Football had nothing to do with it.”"
It doesn’t seem likely that the school will face any punishment for McCoy’s visit, but that’s not the issue. The problem is that McCoy threw the football around to a few high school football players – probably a great moment for them – and someone thinks it could possibly be used to gain an advantage on the field for a game that doesn’t start up again until the fall.
It’s a crazy world we live in.